In recent times, numerous electronic technologies including audio signal processing, video signal processing and data processing have become more available to individual users. With more advanced electronic technologies available to users, new and different needs for entertainment and business applications have arisen.
Two areas in which needs for improved entertainment and business applications exist are in generating multimedia presentations and telecommunications. Multimedia refers to the integration of text, audio, graphics, still image and moving pictures into a single, computer-controlled multimedia product. It includes the combination of computers, video disk or compact disk players, video monitors, optical scanners, audio cards, music synthesizers, etc., all linked together by powerful software. Telecommunications, on the other hand, includes applications for communicating by electronic transmission signals from devices such as telephones, radio, and television. A number of factors, however, have precluded the ability of system designers to develop systems which can fully utilize and integrate multimedia and telecommunications applications in a single workstation. These factors include public acceptance, excessive costs, system complexity, and incompatibilities among the various electronic technologies.
One video workstation described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,562 to Murakami et al. (hereinafter "Murakami") shows the use of a control system that collects multiple asynchronous video, audio, graphic and data signals and retransmits the signals. While the data transmission system of Murakami discloses a system for transmitting various types of audio and video data, it fails to integrate telecommunications and multimedia abilities in a single workstation easily accessible to a user.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,058 to Suto et al. (hereinafter "Suto") there is shown a terminal design for telecommunications that provides a digital signal transmitting system that couples a personal computer with a television and video signal receiving system, a CD-ROM, a stereo/audio receiver and a facsimile device. All of these devices with which the Suto device couples are external to the workstation itself. The system comprises a digital signal reproducer, a digital signal multiplexer connected to the digital signal reproducer, means for modulating the output of the digital signal multiplexer, a plurality of tuners and a means for transmitting the demodulated multiplex digital signal through an optical fiber cable to a corresponding receiver terminal. The system of Suto does not provide the user with a multimedia telecommunications system in a single station. Instead, Suto requires the user to interconnect multiple monitors and external devices to perform only some of the needed entertainment and business functions. Moreover, the Suto system does not provide the user a platform for generating multimedia presentations. Additionally, Suto does not provide a platform for integrating telecommunications applications with multimedia presentation applications.
Thus, there is a need for a system that can provide to the user easy access to electronic technologies for audio signal processing, video signal processing, and data processing uses.
There is a need for a system that can provide to the user in a single station the ability to apply audio signal processing, video signal processing, and data processing to applications for preparing multimedia presentations.
There is a need for a system that provides the user with easy access to audio signal processing, video signal processing, and data processing for telecommunications applications.
Moreover, there is a need for a single system that can provide to the user the ability to integrate electronic technologies for involving both multimedia and telecommunications applications. Additionally, there is a need for a system that can inexpensively provide a user friendly workstation at which to prepare multimedia presentations and perform telecommunications functions, as well as to integrate telecommunications functions with multimedia applications or presentations.
There is yet the need for an inexpensive system that coordinates and combines previously incompatible technologies to perform audio signal processing, video signal processing, and data processing for a multimedia and telecommunications application as well as integrating these applications.